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Staying Safe

Staying Safe dealing with Members of the Private Instructor Directory

Our aim to connect students with teachers in different educational fields. The directory provides search results of local tutors, teachers and studios in the field of your enquiry. Private Instructor cannot vet and endorse the thousands of members on our site. It is totally up to users to verify all information provided by the member including identity, qualifications, pricing, products and services to their satisfaction. Most members provide external links to social media and or websites under their profile. Other information can be exchanged on your first face to face meeting.

Remember to ask for endorsements for Working With Children, Police Checks or references if applicable to your situation.

Report any suspicious members or profiles to us for review.

Staying Safe on the Private Instructor Classified Ads

Know who you’re buying from!

Where possible, cross check information on their ad to make sure you’re dealing with the seller that is who he says he is. Likewise, be satisfied with the product or service that is being offered on the classified is genuine.

Be cautious of sellers offering unbelievably low prices — if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!

Know what you’re buying. Read the description of the product carefully and check the size, colour, value and safety of the product.

Keep printed and/or electronic records of all item descriptions, emails to and from the seller, and transaction records or receipts.

If in doubt don’t do a transaction unless it is face to face pick up. Also, report suspicious persons or ads to us for review.

Search reviews from other customers.

How do I stay safe when buying concert and event tickets?

When buying tickets for events please be aware that some tickets may have terms printed on them that limit the ability of the original buyer to sell them to someone else. Please check out resell policies, terms and conditions with the official event organiser before buying a ticket on Private Instructor.

Please ensure the legitimacy of tickets before handing over money and again refer to resell policies, terms and conditions with the official event organiser.

Double check that the ticket isn't cancelled by the event organiser before handing over money.

Be cautious with sellers offering printed tickets as fraudsters can print several copies and sell to more than one buyer and only the buyer who arrives at the event first will be authorised to enter. Again refer to resell policies, terms and conditions with the official event organiser as some events will also require you to produce a photo id to confirm you are the original buyer.

Meet face to face when you can - take someone with you and meet in a public place. If a buyer is coming to your home or workplace, arrange to have someone with you and ask the buyer to produce ID.

Never send or wire money (especially Western Union, Moneygram or services like Bidpay) to someone you don’t know or trust.

Always let the buyer inspect the item before agreeing to a sale.

Use common sense. If something sounds too good to be true - it probably is

Private Instructor is a local classifieds website and ads aren’t reviewed before they go live on the site. Private Instructor doesn't offer any sort of buyer protection / payment programs. Any emails you receive that talk about such systems are scams, even if they may have the Private Instructor logo. If you receive any emails promoting these services, please report it to us. If ever in doubt simply contact us and we'll be happy to help.

Staying Safe dealing with Private Instructor Advertisers

Private Instructor host business advertisement partners on our home page and other pages of the website. In general, we have verified the identities of the businesses that we deal with and display paid ads for on the site. However, we cannot vouch for advertisers trading practices or products and services as this is beyond our scope of operations.

Always read the fine print including warranty, refund, complaints handling, as well as privacy policies, when dealing with businesses.

Beware of fake sellers

Scammers can create fake websites and social media profiles to try and steal your money or personal details. They copy the designs and logos from legitimate businesses to appear more genuine.

To verify a site you’re looking at, do a browser search for other web pages or profiles by that seller. Compare logos, business names, URL addresses and contact details – if they don’t match up, steer clear!

Type the web address directly into your browser, rather than clicking on a link provided in an email or in an advertisement. This will help ensure you don’t get directed to a fake website.

When shopping on a Facebook page, look for the blue tick next to page’s profile name. This indicates the page has been verified by Facebook.

Pay securely

Ready to make your purchase? Use secure payment methods like PayPal, Bpay or your credit card. Only enter payment details into secure web pages (starting with 'https://' and displaying a closed padlock).

Never send your bank or credit card details via email.

Avoid doing any financial transactions when connected to public Wi-Fi.

Check your bank statements regularly for unusual transactions.

If the website uses a feedback rating system, check reviews and rating scores left by previous buyers.

Watch out for fake parcel delivery scams

Report suspicious persons or ads to us for review.

What to do if things go wrong

If you think you’ve been scammed there are steps you can take to limit the damage and protect yourself from further harm.

Contact your bank or financial institution. If you’ve sent money or your personal banking details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately. They may be able to help stop a money transfer or cheque, investigate a fraudulent credit card transaction, or close your account if the scammer has your details.

Report scams to appriopriate scam authorities

And remember, if you deal with Nigerian companies, you’re covered by Nigerian Consumer Law and in a better position to solve any potential problems.

Private Instructor Community Guidelines

What are the Community Guidelines?

Private Instructor is a community site and we rely on your reports and feedback because it helps to shape the site and keep it friendly, safe, up to date and relevant for everyone. We like to think of it as you, the Private Instructor community, policing the site and keeping out the bad guys.

While the most users have great success buying, selling, renting or connecting with others, occasionally we do receive reports of people trying to scam or defraud users.

One of the best ways to address this problem is to ensure that all of your transactions take place locally and in person and that you inspect the item before paying for it.

If you find an Ad on Private Instructor that you think is illegal, or a scam or fraud you can report to us by contacting us. Reporting a suspicious Ad brings it to our attention so that we can review and, if necessary, take it down quickly.

If you reply to an Ad and you get a suspicious request from the poster of the Ad (e.g. requests for money to be via a payment service), please forward the information to us and stop all contact with that person.

If you experience harassment or abuse in connection with either an Ad on Private Instructor or a communication received from a Private Instructor user then please report it to us.